Historicawwy, de term hermaphrodite has awso been used to describe ambiguous genitawia and gonadaw mosaicism in individuaws of gonochoristic species, especiawwy human beings. The word intersex has come into preferred usage for humans, since de word hermaphrodite is considered to be misweading and stigmatizing,[3][4] as weww as "scientificawwy specious and cwinicawwy probwematic".[5]

A rough estimate of de number of hermaphroditic animaw species is 65,000.[6] Since de estimated totaw number of animaw species is 8.6 miwwion, de percentage of animaw species dat are hermaphroditic is about 0.7%. Ardropods are de phywum wif de wargest number of species. Most hermaphroditic species exhibit some degree of sewf-fertiwization, uh-hah-hah-hah. The distribution of sewf-fertiwization rates among animaws is simiwar to dat of pwants, suggesting dat simiwar processes are operating to direct de evowution of sewfing in animaws and pwants.[6]

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The term derives from de Latin: hermaphroditus, from Ancient Greek: ἑρμαφρόδιτοςhermaphroditos,[7] which derives from Hermaphroditus (Ἑρμαφρόδιτος), de son of Hermes and Aphrodite in Greek mydowogy. According to Ovid, he fused wif de nymphSawmacis resuwting in one individuaw possessing physicaw traits of mawe and femawe sexes;[8] according to de earwier Diodorus Sicuwus, he was born wif a physicaw body combining mawe and femawe sexes.[9] The word hermaphrodite entered de Engwish wexicon as earwy as de wate fourteenf century.[10]Awexander ab Awexandro stated, using de term hermaphrodite, dat de peopwe who bore de sexes of bof man and woman were regarded by de Adenians and de Romans as monsters, and drown into de sea at Adens and into de Tiber at Rome.[11]

Cwownfish are initiawwy mawe; de wargest fish in a group becomes a femawe.

Most species of parrotfish start wife as femawes and water change into mawes.

Seqwentiaw hermaphrodites (dichogamy) occur in species in which de individuaw is born as one sex, but can water change into de opposite sex.[12] This contrasts simuwtaneous hermaphrodites, in which an individuaw may possess fuwwy functionaw mawe and femawe gonads. Seqwentiaw hermaphroditism is common in fish (particuwarwy teweost fish) and some jewwyfish, many gastropods (such as de common swipper sheww), and some fwowering pwants. Whiwe some seqwentiaw hermaphrodites can change sex muwtipwe times, most can onwy change sex once.[citation needed] Seqwentiaw hermaphroditism can best be understood in terms of behavioraw ecowogy and evowutionary wife history deory, as described in de size-advantage mode[13] first proposed by Michaew T. Ghisewin[14] which states dat if an individuaw of a certain sex couwd significantwy increase its reproductive success after reaching a certain size, it wouwd be to deir advantage to switch to dat sex.

Seqwentiaw hermaphrodites can be divided into dree broad categories:

Protandry: Where an organism is born as a mawe, and den changes sex to a femawe.[12]

Exampwe: The cwownfish (genus Amphiprion) are coworfuw reef fish found wiving in symbiosis wif sea anemones. Generawwy one anemone contains a 'harem', consisting of a warge femawe, a smawwer reproductive mawe, and even smawwer non-reproductive mawes. If de femawe is removed, de reproductive mawe wiww change sex and de wargest of de non-reproductive mawes wiww mature and become reproductive. It has been shown dat fishing pressure can change when de switch from mawe to femawe occurs, since fishermen usuawwy prefer to catch de warger fish. The popuwations are generawwy changing sex at a smawwer size, due to naturaw sewection.

Protogyny: Where de organism is born as a femawe, and den changes sex to a mawe.[12]

Exampwe: wrasses (Famiwy Labridae) are a group of reef fish in which protogyny is common, uh-hah-hah-hah. Wrasses awso have an uncommon wife history strategy, which is termed diandry (witerawwy, two mawes). In dese species, two mawe morphs exists: an initiaw phase mawe and a terminaw phase mawe. Initiaw phase mawes do not wook wike mawes and spawn in groups wif oder femawes. They are not territoriaw. They are, perhaps, femawe mimics (which is why dey are found swimming in group wif oder femawes). Terminaw phase mawes are territoriaw and have a distinctivewy bright coworation, uh-hah-hah-hah. Individuaws are born as mawes or femawes, but if dey are born mawes, dey are not born as terminaw phase mawes. Femawes and initiaw phase mawes can become terminaw phase mawes. Usuawwy, de most dominant femawe or initiaw phase mawe repwaces any terminaw phase mawe when dose mawes die or abandon de group.

Bidirectionaw Sex Changers: where an organism has femawe and mawe reproductive organs, but act as eider femawe or mawe during different stages in wife.[12]

Exampwe: Lydrypnus dawwi (Famiwy Lydrypnus) are a group of coraw reef fish in which bidirectionaw sex change occurs. Once a sociaw hierarchy is estabwished a fish changes sex according to its sociaw status, regardwess of de initiaw sex, based on a simpwe principwe: if de fish expresses subordinate behavior den it changes its sex to femawe, and if de fish expresses dominant or not subordinate behavior den de fish changes its sex to mawe.[15]

Dichogamy can have bof conservation-rewated impwications for humans, as mentioned above, as weww as economic impwications. For instance, groupers are favoured fish for eating in many Asian countries and are often aqwacuwtured. Since de aduwts take severaw years to change from femawe to mawe, de broodstock are extremewy vawuabwe individuaws.

A simuwtaneous (or synchronous) hermaphrodite (or homogamous) is an aduwt organism dat has bof mawe and femawe sexuaw organs at de same time.[12]Sewf-fertiwization often occurs.

Reproductive system of gastropods: Puwmonatewand snaiws and wand swugs are perhaps de best-known kind of simuwtaneous hermaphrodite, and are de most widespread of terrestriaw animaws possessing dis sexuaw powymorphism. Sexuaw materiaw is exchanged between bof animaws via spermatophore, which can den be stored in de spermadeca. After exchange of spermatozoa, bof animaws wiww way fertiwized eggs after a period of gestation; den de eggs wiww proceed to hatch after a devewopment period. Snaiws typicawwy reproduce in earwy spring and wate autumn, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Banana swugs are one exampwe of a hermaphroditic gastropod. Mating wif a partner is more desirabwe biowogicawwy, as de genetic materiaw of de resuwtant offspring is varied, but if mating wif a partner is not possibwe, sewf-fertiwization is practiced. The mawe sexuaw organ of an aduwt banana swug is qwite warge in proportion to its size, as weww as compared to de femawe organ, uh-hah-hah-hah. It is possibwe for banana swugs, whiwe mating, to become stuck togeder. If a substantiaw amount of wiggwing faiws to separate dem, de mawe organ wiww be bitten off (using de swug's raduwa), see apophawwation. If a banana swug has wost its mawe sexuaw organ, it can stiww mate as a femawe, making its hermaphroditic qwawity a vawuabwe adaptation, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Hamwets, unwike oder fish, seem qwite at ease mating in front of divers, awwowing observations in de wiwd to occur readiwy. They do not practice sewf-fertiwization, but when dey find a mate, de pair takes turns between which one acts as de mawe and which acts as de femawe drough muwtipwe matings, usuawwy over de course of severaw nights.

Eardworms are anoder exampwe of a simuwtaneous hermaphrodite. Awdough dey possess ovaries and testes, dey have a protective mechanism against sewf-fertiwization, uh-hah-hah-hah. Sexuaw reproduction occurs when two worms meet and exchange gametes, copuwating on damp nights during warm seasons. Fertiwized eggs are protected by a cocoon, which is buried on or near de surface of de ground.

The mangrove kiwwifish (Kryptowebias marmoratus) is a species of fish dat wives awong de east coast of Norf, Centraw and Souf America. These fish are simuwtaneous hermaphrodites. K. marmoratus produces eggs and sperm by meiosis and routinewy reproduces by sewf-fertiwization, uh-hah-hah-hah. Each individuaw hermaphrodite normawwy fertiwizes itsewf when an egg and sperm produced by an internaw organ unite inside de fish’s body.[17]

When spotted hyenas were first discovered by expworers, dey were dought to be hermaphrodites. Earwy observations of spotted hyenas in de wiwd wed researchers to bewieve dat aww spotted hyenas, mawe and femawe, were born wif what appeared to be a penis. The apparent penis in femawe spotted hyenas is in fact an enwarged cwitoris, which contains an externaw birf canaw.[18][19] It can be difficuwt to determine de sex of wiwd spotted hyenas untiw sexuaw maturity, when dey may become pregnant. When a femawe spotted hyena gives birf, dey pass de cub drough de cervix internawwy, but den pass it out drough de ewongated cwitoris.[20]

1860 photograph by Nadar of an intersex person dispwaying genitawia, one of a nine-part series. The series may be de earwiest medicaw photographic documentation of intersex.[21]

Hermaphrodite is used in owder witerature to describe any person whose physicaw characteristics do not neatwy fit mawe or femawe cwassifications, but de term has been repwaced by intersex. Intersex describes a wide variety of combinations of what are considered mawe and femawe biowogy. Intersex biowogy may incwude, for exampwe, ambiguous-wooking externaw genitawia, karyotypes dat incwude mixed XX and XY chromosome pairs (46XX/46XY, 46XX/47XXY or 45X/XY mosaic).

Some peopwe who are intersex, such as some of dose wif androgen insensitivity syndrome, outwardwy appear compwetewy femawe or mawe, freqwentwy widout reawizing dey are intersex. Oder kinds of intersex conditions are identified immediatewy at birf because dose wif de condition have a sexuaw organ warger dan a cwitoris and smawwer dan a penis.

Some humans were historicawwy termed true hermaphrodites if deir gonadaw tissue contained bof testicuwar and ovarian tissue, or pseudohermaphrodites if deir externaw appearance (phenotype) differed from sex expected from internaw gonads. This wanguage has fawwen out of favor due to misconceptions and pejorative connotations associated wif de terms,[27] and awso a shift to nomencwature based on genetics.

Intersex is dought by some to be caused by unusuaw sex hormones; de unusuaw hormones may be caused by an atypicaw set of sex chromosomes. One possibwe padophysiowogic expwanation of intersex in humans is a pardenogenetic division of a hapwoid ovum into two hapwoid ova. Upon fertiwization of de two ova by two sperm cewws (one carrying an X and de oder carrying a Y chromosome), de two fertiwized ova are den fused togeder resuwting in a person having duaw genitawiaw, gonadaw (ovotestes) and genetic sex. Anoder common cause of being intersex is de crossing over of de SRY from de Y chromosome to de X chromosome during meiosis. The SRY is den activated in onwy certain areas, causing devewopment of testes in some areas by beginning a series of events starting wif de upreguwation of SOX9, and in oder areas not being active (causing de growf of ovariantissues). Thus, testicuwar and ovarian tissues wiww bof be present in de same individuaw.[28]

Hermaphrodite is used in botany to describe a fwower dat has bof staminate (mawe, powwen-producing) and carpewwate (femawe, ovuwe-producing) parts. This condition is seen in many common garden pwants. A cwoser anawogy to hermaphroditism in botany is de presence of separate mawe and femawe fwowers on de same individuaw—such pwants are cawwed monoecious. Monoecy is especiawwy common in conifers, but occurs in onwy about 7% of angiosperm species.[30]

Randaww, John E. (2005). Reef and Shore Fishes of de Souf Pacific: New Cawedonia to Tahiti and de Pitcairn Iswands. Honowuwu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. pp. 346, 387. ISBN0-8248-2698-1. OCLC52152732.